


II. Pupa

by erraticvariable



Series: Holometabolism [2]
Category: Princess Tutu
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-23
Updated: 2010-02-23
Packaged: 2017-10-07 12:18:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erraticvariable/pseuds/erraticvariable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the relative usefulness of strings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	II. Pupa

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rymenhild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rymenhild/gifts).



Everyone moved on strings, whether they knew it or not. If you asked, nearly everyone would say they were acting by themselves, out of their entirely free will.

And yet. Rue could look around and see their strings everywhere, because she knew where to look. People cared an awful lot about fulfilling the expectations of others, about not stepping out of some role they hadn't chosen for themselves, and even sometimes admitted it. Dragging others into a role they hadn't chosen was infinitely more common than getting out of it.

So Rue didn't see what was so bad about it. Sure, if you insisted on seeing strings as things limiting your movement, you'd probably want to get rid of them. Rue used to see those invisible strings as something of a safety net. If puppets weren't able to move far beyond their strings, they couldn't move at all without them. It was far better to have a reason to exist, a role to play, a music to follow, than to lay on a discarded heap on the ground.

And she played her role the best she could, just as she followed the steps of a dance. Even if she played the role someone else had picked for her, it didn't mean it couldn't be hers for that moment.

At first, she hadn't seen the difference between loving and playing a role. Maybe that was for the better, because she stepped into that dance more seamlessly than she would otherwise.

And it turned out to be something worth finding the courage to cut the strings on her own.

That's when Rue realized she had never had the whole picture. A chrysalis that seems the world from inside is only a hollow husk from the outside, and unlike puppets, girls don't cease to exist once the role they're playing ends, but they become women.

**Author's Note:**

> Image used with permission.


End file.
